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Brown leads USU to a victory at hostile New Mexico State
By Doug Layne
This time, USU got the elusive win. They continue to rewrite the record books, tying a record for school road trip victories at seven in a row. Ironically enough that streak ended against NMSU last time. Fortunately for USU, history did not repeat itself and the Aggies continue to remain the only unbeaten team in conference play at 13-0, locking up the Eastern Division title. With the 70- 66 victory the USU Aggies improve their record to 22-5. "It's a special win. I wish all the Aggie fans could have been here tonight," Coach Stew Morrill told the press. At the start of game, it looked as if the USU streak was coming to an end as NMSU went up 5-0 in the first minute of play. Then the team that is known for great starts and fantastic finishes went on a 19-5 run, led by Downtown Tony Brown. During the run Brown got his third steal and dunked the ball. "It was for a fan who's never seen a white guy dunk the ball in this place" Tony Brown told a reporter after the game. The sophomore guard came up big on the night and had eight points by the half to help USU go up 37-27. Brown ended the game with a career high of 27 points. The second half became the Tony Brown show, as he scored 19 of the 33 second-half points including 13 straight points midway through the second half. "I got a lot of good screens and I was wide open and got the shots" Brown said. Brown started the game with nailing his first five three-pointers and ended the game shooting 7 of 10 from down town and 9 of 16 overall from the field. "He picked a great night to hit shots," Morrill told the press. The other big man on the night was Bernard Rock, who helped out with 16 points of his own. Ironically Rock went to New Mexico Military and played football, and last year wanted to go to NMSU to play basketball. "The coach told he me I was not good enough," Rock said. The USU Aggies shot 50 percent on the night and were able to pull down 30 rebounds. The other Aggies shot 49 percent and had 26 rebounds. In the second half, NMSU's Billy Keys, who finished the game with 20 points, helped erase an 11-point USU lead and pull NMSU within one with just over three minutes remaining. Then USU built its lead back up to five points before a Brad Bestor three-pointer brought the margin back to within two. Keys ran into Rock with less then 34 seconds remaining, and was charged
with an offensive foul. Then the USU Aggies were able to go to the line
and make their last foul shoots. On the night USU went 10-13 from the
charity line. |
Archived Months:
September
1998 |
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